Abstract
Thomas Ken, born in 1637, was a contemporary of Traherne (b.1637) and Dryden (b.1631). This generation, coming to age just before the Restoration, is situated at a strategic moment in English cultural history. The old habits of intellectual liberty and aesthetic licence have yet to be controlled and refined under the new dispensation of Anglican and Neoclassical settlement. While Dryden heroically welcomed the new dispensation, contributing largely to its definition, and while Traherne sublimated the old freedoms and fancies into a striking, if anachronistic, personal vision, Ken did a bit of both. Ken is equally at home writing a Caroline devotional lyric or turning his hand to Restoration Hudibrastic satire. One edge of Augustanism can thus be examined in his work.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays (London: Faber and Faber, 1934), p. 293.
Bowles, Life of Ken (1830), II, 290–300. Quoted in Plumptre, II, 232–3.
John Keble, “Sacred Poetry,” The Quarterly Review, XXXII–(1825), 217.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1972 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hoyles, J. (1972). The Critical Heritage. In: The Edges of Augustanism. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d’Histoire des Idees, vol 53. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2819-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2819-6_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-2821-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2819-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive